Knitting, life in the animal sheltering business, cats, dogs, herpetology, sheep, handspinning, the daily culture report, and other arcana.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Hi again.

It's Wednesday morning here, mid afternoon for Dez. Cell phone reception was better, but still not perfect, but we did have a brief chat.

Baton Rouge is a mess. Dez says the area is in worse shape than after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and will be some time before it is back to "normal." The information she has is that 400-450 homes took major, as in devastating, damage from trees and are in all likelihood destroyed. There are 1.4 MILLION homes in Southern Louisiana without power. There is only 1 major grocery store open in the area and there were probably 500 people lined up to go inside.

The good news is that she, Dave and her mom (and the four legged "people") are all fine. They have running water, gas water heater and stove so they can shower and cook. They are well stocked with food, and batteries. The electricity will in all probability be off for quite some time, but they are "camping" and while they are not as comfortable as they would be with electric lights and air conditioning, they are safe and functioning, and have what they need.

Dez says thank you to all who have and are supporting them in whatever way you have and thinking of them.

While I wish I had better news on the aftermath, I am extremely relieved and grateful that they are alive, unhurt and able to function right now.

I'll post more when I know more. In the meantime, thanks for your support, best wishes, and postive thoughts/ prayers to the Deity of your choice.

4 Comments:

Thanks, Lisa, for posting updates on your contact with Dez. Appreciate personal reports from Louisiana. Encouraging to see bloggers and friends networking in this way. Impressed that cell phones keep communication going in Baton Rouge. No cell phone coverage where we live in remote, rural Australia, another zone that gets cyclones. Cheers.

I have to commend you on the planning it takes to get blog updates from New Orleans via Hawaii! That's an experienced hurricane survivor.

I think the whole continent breathed a collective sigh of relief that New Orleans was not obliterated by a second Katrina scale storm. But the blog makes real just how big a calamity this is. You're strong people down there!

Kathy too young to remember HAZEL eh? OCTOBER 15 1954 Thousands were left homeless, and 81 people were killed—more than 30 on one street alone. The total cost of the destruction in Canada was estimated at $100 million (about $1billion today

Thanks so much for keeping us updated on Dez. I've lived through a few hurricanes myself, and while it's better to be prepared, there's nothing like flipping that switch and the lights come on! Here's hoping everything's back to semi-normal quickly.